The Trigg County Fiscal Court approved a new sick-day policy at its Jan. 17 meeting that will allow county workers to apply up to six months of unused sick days toward their retirement.

“This program is meant to reward those who are faithful and come in whether they feel bad or not,” said County Judge-Executive Berlin Moore.

Moore said the county will have to budget for the expense of an employee cashing in their sick days at retirement, but said it wouldn’t apply to many employees from year to year.

He said the county would have to budget approximately $3,000 for each employee, as they approach retirement age.

The county has approximately 38 non-elected employees.

In other action, Nathan Eckstein, of the Canton Heritage Council, spoke to the court about the council’s desire to apply for a $650,000 TEA-21 grant from Kentucky to fund their Canton Hotel Project.

Eckstein said the council would like to implement a five-year redevelopment plan for Canton and western Trigg County. Pivotal to the plan is restoring the Canton Hotel and reopening it for business.

Eckstein, the current owner of the hotel, called it, “one of the last remaining stones of Trigg County’s foundation.”

Eckstein said he would transfer ownership of the hotel to the Canton Heritage Council, a non-profit, if the project were undertaken.

The TEA-21 grant requires a 20 percent match from the county — about $130,000.

Eckstein said the county’s portion could be funded with in-kind services, such as donated materials and labor from county employees.

After the meeting, however, Moore said he was unsure if in-kind services were allowed to cover a matching portion of that size.

The court took no action on the council’s request Tuesday. Because the TEA-21 grant has an application deadline of Jan. 31, the fiscal court will have to call a special meeting if they are to take action and agree to match 20 percent of the grant.